Caviar & Candy: A Luxury Travel and Lifestyle Podcast with a Sweet Twist

Inside Zurich's Longevity Culture: Wellness, Prevention &and AYUN with Nadine Rapp-Guirey

Paula Conway

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 55:26

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of Caviar & Candy, Paula Conway sits down with Nadine Rapp-Guirey, Chief Marketing Officer of AYUN and a Zurich native at the Alex Lake Zürich, to explore why Zurich is emerging as a destination for wellness, longevity, and preventive health. They discuss Switzerland's culture of healthy living, the growing interest in proactive healthcare, and how AYUN combines advanced diagnostics with treatments such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy, cryotherapy, red-light therapy, and personalized longevity programs. Whether you're interested in luxury wellness travel, preventive medicine, or the future of healthy aging, this conversation offers an insider's look at Zurich's evolving longevity scene. 

 Mid-roll promo for Caviar & Candy podcast, encouraging listeners to follow for luxury travel and lifestyle content. 

 ✨ Follow the swirl: @PaulaConwayNYC on Instagram ,  TikTok and YouTube
📰 More luxe travel + lifestyle at Forbes.com/PaulaConway

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to the Caviar and Candy Podcast. I'm your host, Paula Conway, and I'm here in the gorgeous city of Zurich with Nadine Gyrie, who is the chief marketing officer of the Iune Longevity Clinic. And that's it, yeah? Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thanks for having me. Longevity has been part of the Swiss culture for a very long time. Yeah, it does. Actually, it is. It's since uh since centuries. And it's interesting that it's a trend. So the Swiss must be like, what trend? We've been doing this for a long time. We're all healthy and swimming and you know, hiking, and it's kind of interesting that it's such a trend and everybody's trying to get on it. So do you when you look at it as a trend, what do you think the trend is? Is it is it more of the clinical? Is it fitness? Is it longevity? Because you could take each one of these buckets and they have their own definition. So if I'm if I'm physically fit and I'm swimming and hiking every other day, and I'm walking a lot, and I eat well, that's one component. But when you start adding in red light therapy or hyperbarics or IHHT, which you'll have to explain to me. What what is this trend? Like what is it?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's a it's a very good question. Like, I mean, I I think that if you have your basics kind of right, and as you said, it's it's sleep, it's exercising, it's it's eating well. Um, I think they're they're 80% of what you kind of need. But of course there is that kind of a bit of extra with people kind of want. And it's not just a bit of hi!

SPEAKER_01

Our coffee's here. Very good. Excellent, thank you so much. Oh no, you're fine. It we're very fluid here. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00

This is from you, uh.

SPEAKER_01

Is this uh latte with caramel sauce? Great, thank you.

SPEAKER_00

With auto milk?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, excellent. And this will be a coffee cream. Perfect, thank you so much. Does that have cream in it, that one?

SPEAKER_00

I put always separate. Oh, separate, kind of perfect. That is great. Thank you so much. No, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you. That's great. This is like my second or third cup this morning, and that's good. It's good that you have it in the morning because some people shouldn't have it after 12 because of the sleeping at night. I don't know how you react to it, if you measure or not. You know, that's a different topic, I guess.

SPEAKER_01

I I went to a um long uh a um what what do you call it? Um um when you do a reboot, like a cleanse. There's a very, very famous spa cleansing destination in California called um the ranch.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And I went to the ranch. A lot of celebrities go. I had celebrities in my group. It was really kind of fascinating. And people go there to take all the salt, the sugar, the fats out of the diet. But you hike every day and you hike many, many, many miles. Like it's very rigorous. And um, I had a really hard time because I had caffeine withdrawn. It was pretty significant. And I called my friend that I was talking with you about, Leslie, who incidentally has done this podcast with me. Yeah. Caviar and candy. We're we're fun together. We're just we're just like two girls tripping over each other in a conversation. Um so I brought, um, so I called her and I said, you know, this latte is so good. I said, Leslie, I'm I'm not doing well. I have no meat in my diet, I have no caffeine in my diet. And she said, number one, go get a coffee every morning. She said, I believe as a physician that caffeine has a lot of good benefits and you clearly need it. There's no reason to eliminate it. And she said, and secondly, I want you to order chicken soup to your room right now because you need that protein.

SPEAKER_00

Protein. So it was interesting, right? It is like, I mean, as I said, coffee is not like we don't say to people, don't drink coffee, for example. But I mean, it really depends on, and you can see the dots in your genetic, um, actually how long it takes for your body to kind of get kind of rid of the coffee in order for you to kind of sleep well during the night. Or if you have it too late and you have kind of problems with it, then of course your kind of deep sleep phase is gonna be affected on it. And that's the only problem. It's not the coffee itself, it's just when you drink the coffee is important, you know. And some people we say, please drink your last coffee at 11 o'clock because your body needs at least eight, nine, ten hours to kind of you know get the coffee out of the system in order for you to have a good night's sleep. And a good night's sleep, as we all know, is like it's it's so important. Like, I mean it's completely gold, exactly. I mean, anything else you can adjust and whatever, but sleep and regular sleep and good sleep, that's just it. But we never say to people either, don't drink coffee. Like I drink coffee, I love coffee. Yeah, and the protein, and especially like um for women, we we women often I mean now it's changing because I mean there's a lot of information out there, but I think in the past it was always like, oh no, don't protein, and um, I don't want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger with a lot of muscles and things. But I think now, and especially we women, we were kind of not taking enough protein, and also we completely underestimate the muscle and the muscle mass and how important it is, especially when you come into your perimenopause and menopause phase.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I'm right, I'm right there. Yeah, it's great. It's it's great.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I kind of feel it already a tiny bit, so I I am not sure what to expect, but I mean people have different symptoms and a different experience around that, but it's still this fact that um muscle mass is uh uh declining even faster, and also your bone density is suffering and all those kind of things, and um just to be aware and maybe um prevent that. And that maybe if we if we go back now to that longevity and if it's a trend or not, I think it's more that now it's you have more science, you have more research on it, and you can deep dive a bit more if that's what you want to do. Um, as I said, if you have the basics right, and we always say that in the clinic as well, listen, look at your basics, and then add the on top. But longevity is not that we are trying that you live until you're 200. That's not it. It's it's not expanding the the lifespan, it's your health span. Yeah. So that you'll longer be able to do whatever you want to do, you're longer feeling great, and you hopefully prevent like the last in Switzerland is anyway, the last 10 years of chronic diseases, which loads of the people are developing. And I think that loads of people have now the awareness that I can do something, you know, and maybe they've seen in the family that oh, my dad was suffering from cardiovascular disease or diabetes or Alzheimer's, and you know, I don't want that. And now you have the tools to maybe prevent those kind of things, and I think that's a a big trend. But you have to be very careful, and especially with the word longevity, like it's it's not really protected here in Switzerland. You can open up a nail studio and call it longevity, yeah, and people would like, oh my god, I have to go there because it's better than the one I'm going in because it has the word longevity in it. So I mean, it really, and I think that's also makes it very difficult for kind of normal people to understand. Is it really kind of medical? Is it science backed up? Is it data driven? And um, yeah, and I I I think there's uh a positive, but there's also loads of grey people in the market. Yeah. And again, sorry, but it it it is really funny, isn't it? That Switzerland, I mean, for centuries, people have been coming for to Switzerland to seeking youth and health. And you know, it's crazy when you actually look at the history and it hasn't changed, like you know, but I mean, we still, I mean, just look out our lake. No, I mean mountain views, you know, so I think that's what people, especially in the past, I mean, uh uh were looking for the fresh mountain air, the thermal, spring water, you know, and the view of the mountains. Alone that like gives you health and longer living and aging. And in the past that has been advertised like that. Yeah, because you were able to do so. Well, nowadays, as you know, you're not allowed to say anything anymore. Right. To praise, but that was actually said come to Switzerland to get strength and your youth back and um always living longer and yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I remember it as a child because I'm actually Swiss. My father was Swiss. Oh, look at you. And uh we lived in a very small town in Switzerland called Saxon. Okay. Where's that canton? I don't know. I have no idea. I asked Bruno, uh, who's here at the hotel as one of the uh restaurant managers, and he knew where it was. Oh no, it was Dario, the general manager. He knew where it was. And I just, you know, I di I don't remember. But it was very small and it was really lovely. And we were hiking all the time. And you know, I remember my father, he was a surgeon, and my mother was a nurse during the Vietnam War. And I remember both of them talking about, you know, they use the word longevity, but the health.

SPEAKER_00

The health, yeah, the health, rejuvenation and all those kind of things. That as I said, that's going on for ages. I think there's even there's um I I don't know what it's called. I think it's it's Palkhotel now. I don't know what exactly. It's in Rheinfeld, and but I mean I I I know that that was the place where like even the Emperor of of Austria, you know, Sissi, I don't know, she was coming to Switzerland for um regeneration and um the water health and yeah, I mean um Badragatz, for example, like that is very well known like for their thermal spa. And um I think as ever recall that was the what it's the um the first in Europe opened up an indoor kind of thermal spa pool, you know.

SPEAKER_01

Where is in Badragatz? Where is it located?

SPEAKER_00

Um well Badragatz is kinda in the Graubunden area. Um, but that is very, very famous for their thermal and spa um water, and um and then we still have the clinics, which um of course are a bit younger, but the La Prairie, for example. Oh yeah. I mean that is very well known. It's very well known. And um and that that goes on really for years and years, and yeah, even St. Moritz and all them are. I mean, now it's anyway. Yeah, yeah, that's where we go. Yeah. St. Moritz, yeah. I mean, in the past, as I think, I think they they put like the the sick people out in uh on the balcony in their beds so that they can see the the the mountain fuse and you know the fresh air and things like that. So it really has kind of a tradition, and it goes back for so long about Switzerland. And I don't know if you find the fountain of youth here, but anyway, like that's where people were sitting in the past. Well, let's say that you do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

For the purpose of this podcast, the fountain of youth is right here. Because we're in it. And you know what? That's a really interesting thing that you say that. Because now that I think about it, I put it all together, and we're here at Hotel Alex in Lake Zurich, and it's just so beautiful. Um now that I think about it, it is really kind of the fountain of youth here, and people have known it for a long time. And I met a couple in the spa yesterday. Yeah, and they've they vacation here often, and they've been here for two weeks, and they were at three different hotels. I don't even remember why. She explained it to me, but they were at the Mandarin Oriental, they were at the Dolder Grand, and their last stop was here at the Alex. Um, and I said, Well, which one did you like the best? And they said, This one, because it's just a little bit slower pace, it's like quiet luxury, which is true. I I think there's something to be said about the quiet luxury. The other ones were very over the top and very crowded, and you know, you know. Um and and they said, uh, the gentleman said, I just feel healthier here in Zurich. We feel healthier, so we come here to feel healthier.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think I think Switzerland in general, but also Zurich, it kind of it is in comparison or some for some Swiss people especially, like it's a big town, but it's still calm. It's still surrounded by nature, for example. I mean, you could have you can have a business lunch, for example, or uh in the center, and then you walk down to the lake for your lunch and jump maybe into the lake to recover. You know, that kind of way, like, and I mean that is something really, I think, unusual, like, you know, and I think that's what loads of people and other acts expats which are here kind of um appreciate that, you know.

SPEAKER_01

You know, uh whenever whenever I travel, I get these tourism brochures. And never once have I received one that told you where to swim and literally said Zurich swim season. Like, where else would you go that because this is part of daily life. It is, it is. And then it has a little map of all the spots where you should go swimming.

SPEAKER_00

Look, isn't that great? Oh my god, yeah, but that's exactly what I mean, like, you know? And then also exactly the Latin and you know, even the river, like, you know, which goes through uh the limit. I mean, people are jumping from the bridge there just to kind of refresh. So where's the limit? Explain that to me. The limit is just when you when you now So is it from here? You know, when you go to the city centre and it kind of goes uh right um left and in that case through the city center. Yes, that's the limit. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. So you just jump in. You basically there's a there's a space actually, it's it's close enough where my husband has the office, and you literally jump off the bridge there, and it has a bit of a current, and then you go off the other side, and um and I asked people before, I said, Why do you jump in like? And he actually had a business suit on and he took it off, and he's like, I just want to have fun and I just want to completely clear my mind and refresh myself. And um I I think that's that's great. And in in general, I mean, you know, that that healthy living is kind of like it's kind of a cultural thing here in Switzerland, and everything, as you said, it's kind of and like it's it's kind of the pace is is it's not as hectical. And um as I said, people take their time often to kind of have, for example, lunch on the lake or um do something, go uh to sport, or do you go into the gym or do something even in our longevity clinic? You know, sometimes people come in, they do three minutes of cryo, and then they go out and say, I feel completely awakened and fresh, and now I can go ahead and back into our meeting.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, let's talk about that because I need to be completely refreshed at at all times. I want to talk about Iun. Tell me, tell me everything, tell me what you have there so people understand the different treatments that you offer. And I like how you separated earlier in our conversation medical clinic, a clinic versus a spa. Yeah, yeah. Um, and I was talking to you about my friend Leslie, and she's opening a clinic, not a spa. She said, I don't want to give people Botox.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's not what kind of physician I am. I want clinical the, you know, uh um um offer you know offerings. Um so talk talk to me about ayune and how we differentiate.

SPEAKER_00

Well, ayun is um is it's a walking longevity clinic. So what it basically is that um Did you say walking? It's a walk-in. Oh, walk-in. So I could just come in. Yeah, well, you have to kind of do an appointment, all right? Maybe not for the treatments, depending on how busy we are, but for the checkups. I mean, ayun is mainly um uh uh specialized or yeah, in in in medical checkups. Like we we want to see, we want to understand you as a person, your biology, you know. And we want to see what kind of strength and what kind of risks are maybe inside you, you know, in order to kind of prevent maybe something which is might be happening. You know, and in order to do so, we of course have a lot of diagnostics to do. Like we collect over 150 data points per person. Interesting. We do a lot of questionnaires, like we want to know you, you know, because longevity is very individual, it's very personalized. So it's not a ones for all. Yeah. Like it is often at the moment, unfortunately, you know, when you go to your non-GP and you say, Yeah, I'm not feeling great, and they're like, Oh yeah, sure, let's your age or this, this, and maybe you give you a pill or come back in three months, like when it's not getting better. That's not what we uh want to do. We want to understand you, we want to understand your biology. Is there some risks maybe inside you where we have to address early enough in order to prevent something from happening? Something further, yeah. Cardiovascular disease, um, diabetes, Alzheimer, or in general, people also come because they say, Listen, all my biomarkers look good, okay? I track everything, our watch, apple watch, whatever it's gonna be. They always say everything is great. I do not feel great. Okay, I feel interesting. Not good. And and that's where I think those longevity clinics, which are medical kind of driven, kind of look deeper, or and say, okay, a normal GP maybe just looks at your biomarkers, they look good. I mean, they can change day on a daily basis, nearly, because you know, one time you maybe have low on iron, and then you eat more iron or take it to you or supplement it, and then you do another blood draw, and then it's completely different. But why was the cause for it? What what happened then? What happened? And you can't just see it on a single point. So you we we we actually build it that we have different data layers, so we have the genetic part, and then we have the blood draw, and then you have physiological testings, and then we have, for example, body composition analysis, and all those kind of give you a picture and all the amnesis which we're gonna do. We're gonna have a lot of talks, you'd have to fill out a lot of questionnaires, and all those data points give you a great understanding of who you are and what is maybe missing, and where do we have to address certain things. That's what we main specialize in. That is our daily bread and butter. But we do have, of course, um so-called longevity treatments. Um and the treatments are, for example, yeah, you can say some are more kind of more into maybe the wellness kind of part, so that you have an immediate effect on it. For example, the cryotherapy, let's say. Or I mean the cryotherapy, what is it? Like when you're exposed to really cold temperature, we have it on a minus 110. Oh, that's the one I can. Yeah, you were saying it, yeah, exactly. But too bad. If you hear that, you're like, oh my god, a minus 110. Like, I even can't go out in the winter, like, where is minus 10 degrees? It's a completely different cold air. Oh, okay. It's a very dry air. Ah, you know, and what it does, I mean, it's great for you sit. No, you stand. Okay, you stand. You stand, yeah. We have a standing one. And it's um, I mean, it's great for um recovery, like, and um reducing inflammation and also like your mental, like you you get a lot of clarity like straight away, you know. And lots of sports people actually use it um after their training. Um, I think even the was it the UK soccer women team or something when they came here, they have their own cryo chamber with them. You know, you get those kind of portable ones, and they all go in there after to recovery, prevent injuries and things like that. Um but what I would say is when you try that once, like, for example, because usually most of the treatments you have to do for a while in order to get the effect, especially with oxygen treatments, but I'll talk about that later. But with the cryo, you come out and you feel straight away awaken and refreshed and you're ready for the day again, like you know, you really straight away have that hit. You're like, oh my god, I'm mentally completely cleared. That was really great. And that, as I said, depending on how quickly you dress yourself and undress, five minutes, you're done. And so actually, yeah. I mean, it's three minutes, um, the the standard program we have, and then as I said, you just have to undress um yourself and um yeah, you have to wear special gloves and um a hat and special shoes. Oh, so you wear gloves, so your hands? You wear gloves and you wear um a face mask and you wear a hat and you wear socks and special shoes to go in. And um Do you do you have people who have rain odds? Well, I was actually talking when you said it to me, I was actually talking to our scientific director, and she said, Yeah, well, it's probably not very good um to do so. But I mean if you want to try it, there is no harm. Right. But I mean you don't have to, as a such, but um you can do like a minute or 30 seconds. You could just go in, just experience come out again, and you can always push it open like you're not locked in, you're like panicky in there. But I mean, just saying, I mean, if you want to call it more from the maybe um wellness kind of side, then you can kind of say uh the well-being straight away you feel the effect, you come out, you're more awake and you're refreshed and you're ready for the day again. As I said, we have people actually coming in during launch time. They say, Okay, I do the cryo now because and I after that I have a very important business meeting in Bahnhofstraße Financial Park in Zurich. Yeah. Because we're very good located as well. We are in the middle of uh Zurich, we're just five, ten minutes uh by foot from the Zurich main train station. So that's very good location.

SPEAKER_01

Well, let's let's talk about um the other treatments. Let's talk about the oxygen. Oh, this is what I was gonna ask you, I was making a note of this. Do you ever have people who come in with multiple chronic diseases, like they're sick, yeah, and you prescribe a clinical path for them and you actually see improvements?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. We do have that on the treatment patients as well, but uh mainly on the checkup patients. Like we have very different type of people coming to us. We have the type of people who money doesn't Better okay, they're just interested in it, they just do it. That's it, like you know. Then we have people, kind of business people who are more like um, I I always say, I don't know if that's uh not the right comparison, but I always say that you know, they want to know what's happening on the stock market and they want to predict whether it's going up or down, and the same they want to do with their health. They want to see what maybe is coming in the future and what do I have to do now in order to prevent. So, and then we have really people who kind of felt left alone with the standard health system, like you know, yes. Which are like, okay, this is a good exactly said, I can't do anymore, basically, you know, you're not treatable or whatever, you're not too sick to be treatable at the same time. We don't really know exactly also what's going on. And we had a few, like, and they have m often autoimmune um um diseases and um in general, like, and they were kind of crawling up the stairs. And now they're jumping.

SPEAKER_01

Stop. I have to is your clinical director there today?

SPEAKER_00

Um Oliver is there, yeah. You can talk to him only too. He's a doctor, I assume. He's a doctor, and he actually he actually got a handwritten letter just recently, actually, from from a woman who was kind of giving up. Everybody was like, it's nothing we can do, and she's like, she's like, no, I can't anymore. And even herself, she's like, I really, really can't. And she looked really bad. And now she's she's just flying, she's back to life. And that is that what Ayun wants to achieve as well. It's not for us to kind of treating people with Botox or treating people, you know, like it's like really like making a difference, like, and that's what we're affecting help. Affecting, yeah. And the walk-in part is really that it's accessible, it's also like for example, la prairie or something. You have to stay for a week, two weeks, and something. You get pampered, like, you know, I mean the food is gonna be prepared for you, everything is done, then you come back into your daily life. And then does it fit in? Longevity prevention is a lifestyle change. It has to fit in into your daily life. So there's no point in getting out of the your daily life for two weeks. Yes, you're getting the treatments, you're probably getting a plan, they maybe show you what to eat, but then you're left alone. You come back into your busy life, you're traveling every day, you do you can't cook yourself that lovely food, it has been prepared. And that's not what we want to achieve.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, most people won't. I don't know if you've ever heard of Pritoken in the United States. So in the 1970s, it was founded by this Dr. Pritoken, um, and it was really ahead of its time. It was meant to be clinical longevity treatments for prevention of chronic diseases, chronic illnesses. Um, and I've been twice, and they take everything out of the diet: the sugar, the salt, the fat, like they take everything out. But all day you go to seminars and different clinicians speak to you about bone density, altheuritis, cancer, cancer prevention, whatever it is, sugar. Um, and um they cook, then you could do cooking demonstrations, but they're they're complex and they're very expensive when you kind of think about well, how am I gonna do this at home? Well, now I have to go to the specialty grocery store and I have to find the whatever rare lentil bean food Cuba, you know, and yeah. And and so, yeah, you come out feeling better. You you you know, you you do get well.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And then you go home and you're not well again.

SPEAKER_00

No, but but that's that's really what it is, isn't it? I mean, if you really go along that path, like then it's something like I always compared something with a diet, you know, like when people say they're gonna go on a diet, um, like as I said, I'm not for diets, but I'm just comparing it. Yeah, it's dangerous. Yeah, and they're very motivated, like you know, two weeks, they're like really going for it. And then after a while, like it's it's it's it doesn't fit in, it it it's it's just a burden and things, and then you drop it, and then you know, you have that yo-yo effect, like what they call it. And we always say that's not what we want to do. Like, if you do that, and it is often a lifestyle change for most of the people, it has to fit in so that you can actually do it a very long time and probably forever. And that you can only do when you really know that person and really kind of see does it fit into their lifestyle? There's no point in saying to someone, even though it would be uh very beneficial, you do five days a week now or um whatever kind of sport. And that's a person who absolutely hates sports. He's not gonna, or she or whatever, he's not gonna continue. So the benefit would be.

SPEAKER_01

They're not right. They don't like it, right? Yeah, right, right, right. You know what I mean? That's a good point. Yeah, so you can't take a person and say suddenly, now you're gonna exercise all the time. You know, they're not going to.

SPEAKER_00

No, they do it for a while because they're motivated. Yeah. But then also if you because they're motivated because they see the data's in front of you, and you're like, oh, sugar, I have to do something. Like, you know.

SPEAKER_01

Oh sugar? Yeah, that's great. I like that word. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00

But then after a while, you you don't have the data in front of you, and you're back to your normal life and you forget, and we humans forget things, like you know, and you think, yeah, well, I'm okay, I feel not bad. And then, you know, the whole habits kind of continue on again. And that's why we are saying, sometimes we even say to people, yeah, it would be great if you do my access, but you know what? Just leave the elevator and use the stairs for the beginning. That already makes a difference.

SPEAKER_01

So let me ask you something as as we're talking. I'm just gonna crack the door because I know I think they're trying to bring us something. Um, but we're we're mic's so we're good. Um let me just see. Oh, they're so beautiful. Okay, I don't know. Um, I'm just gonna leave it like a tiny bit. So part of my diet is sugar. It's a big part of my diet. I like sugar, hence caviar and candy. And I mean I'm addicted to it. Um and and I'm so am I actually. I I am so I've been sitting here, so I've been here eating this lemon butter cake, and I'm gonna try this uh fudge cake. You don't have to partake, but this is just kind of what I do. And I think they were gonna bring something else in, but that's okay. Um and we have some fruit.

SPEAKER_00

Um if you don't mind, I gonna not at all.

SPEAKER_01

So in addition to, I want to talk about the treatments because in addition to my addiction to sugar, which means I'm pretty inflamed most of the time, I have three autoimmune diseases. Oh, okay. So, and and that just is global inflammation. Which treatments at Iun, maybe not me specifically, but somebody in my state who's, you know, fairly thin, uh, you know, healthy, and uh, you know, I exercise, I hike daily, you know. But I'm clearly in a state of inflammation. Would I would benefit from?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I think if you just look at the part, I think first of all, the inflammation part we would have to address a bit deeper, are really seeing, okay, what are where is it really coming from exactly? What could we do? I mean, of course, sugar is one thing, but there might be other layers to it as well. Right, it's not just sugar, right? It might just be the sugar-like part, you know. Um, but then um, as I said, like with the with the treatments, I mean, for example, the hyperbaric oxygen gem. Hyperbaric has a huge effect on um kind of also the insulin level and those kind of things, um cell regeneration and things, but also the the the IHHT, which is kind of um alternating between a lower and higher um oxygen concentration, it's like an attitude training, like you know. Um, and that also is very good for your um uh metabolic health, like for example, and um also inflammation and recovery and more energy and those kind of things, because it helps your mitochondria to kind of get a boost again.

SPEAKER_01

But what are you doing?

SPEAKER_00

What is the actual thing you do to for the IHHT? It's it's it's basically a machine whereby you have a mask, you're breathing through a mask, and it's actually alternating oxygen. So it takes oxygen away and then it kind of gives you the oxygen boost again. And that's kind of like we often have it in three kind of waves, um, kind of going whereby you get less oxygen, which kind of helps um your body for the mitochondria, which are not really working very well anymore, um, they're gonna get kind of destroyed. And then the oxygen um intake, the higher level of oxygen helps you to to boost the ones which are good or to kind of create new ones. And I mean, um, that gives you, as I said, it's very good for your metabolic health, it's very good for um inflammation, recovery, energy, even for your nerve system, like you know, regulating your nerve system, and all those kind of things like has then also an effect on inflammation and all those kind of things in your body, like you know, because we really have to see why you're so inflamed, like you know, what what what's the cause of it, like you know? Is it maybe an ongoing arthritis already? What is what is happening in your body? Um, and then also kind of to see um in what stage are we in already, and can we also maybe with uh some supplements help you, you know, to kind of compensate that kind of way? And of course, as you know yourself, I mean nutrition and sport and those kind of things are uh important. Yeah. To pinpoint it down, it's very, very difficult. Most of the people, I think, yeah. I mean, it's funny, we we do have uh people who do both like the checkup and the treatments, but we also have people who just do the treatments because they heard about it and they want to see it and they've read about it and those kind of things. But I'd say like for that place, but also red light is is also kind of good. Oh, let's talk about for inflammation, like and um of course it doesn't go as deep like the oxygen therapy, because I mean the oxygen you breathe kind of oxygen through a mask, and the red light is more on the outside kind of skirt, you know, but it's also very good, of course, for skin health, like the collagen um um production, and but also for inflammation or recovery, and and that maybe goes into the kind of well-being and the wellness because afterwards, you know, when you have done it, you already feel like oh, feel kind of warm and nice and you know, relaxed after it, which you don't have maybe uh as I said, a straightaway effect on those oxygen treatments if you do it.

SPEAKER_01

So I was told who was I speaking to? I was speaking to someone yesterday who told me that nearby um this area, there are some La Prairie, of course, but there are other very well-known um wellness uh camps facilities that you can go to. Um if someone came here and is Iuna chain? No.

SPEAKER_00

It's not a chain, it's just here. Okay. At the moment it's just in Zurich, that's our flagship, but we're opening up new clinics soon. But um at the moment, I mean we're only open for um July 24, so we are quite young.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, you are young?

SPEAKER_00

Oh my gosh, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01

So if somebody were to come here and just really focus on the clinical treatments, is there um a sort of advice you would say, like you don't have to go to La Perrie, you know, or like a Pritican, like I'm taught which they're similar. Um what you would do is you would get a hotel nearby, enjoy Zurich, you know, plan your daily activities around wellness and longevity, which is not hard to do because everybody's doing that, and then come in for uh ongoing treatments over a certain period of time. Is that sort of do you ever have clients who do that, or is that part of your um looking to the future that somebody would come here and because I like the idea of packaging Zurich, which is already a wellness city with Iun?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Um it it really depends on your stay, and it really depends if you have done treatments, for example, before. We had, for example, some um people from the US or the UK who are saying, I'm anyway already doing kind of um um 20 sessions of HBOT. Um can I continue while I'm, for example, in in Zurich for a visit? Because as I said, it's also that um uh especially when you start off with HBOT and IHHT, it's better to do it kind of on a really regular basis. So maybe do it really if you can five five times a week, you know, for 20 sessions, and after that you can kind of have a longer break in between, like you know, but for example, they don't want to interrupt their sessions and then they're gonna say, Can I come in and continue? Um, for example, and we said, Yeah, no problem. Or we have people, of course, in who want to just try it, I would like. But as I said, with the treatments, the more you do it, the more effect you have, and it takes time, it's it's very time consuming. So most of the people who come, which come from foreign, are actually people who do the checkup with us, who say, I'm gonna stay around here, I don't want to be pampered for two weeks somewhere else, I would just want to do my own thing. Um, but I come in for a checkup, it's kind of three to five hours you're with us um the whole morning, basically, and after that you're free again. And then um after five to six weeks, we're gonna contact you after all the analysis has been done, you know. Um we're gonna contact you and we can have a follow-up, either via video call or if you want to come back. Some people actually prefer to come back again, especially if they're in Austria or Germany, just the border kind of countries. Um, then they come back and they have their follow-ups with us and that's it. So they can come in and have a block of time where they're doing treatments. The block of time where they do the checkups. The checkup. What's a checkup? The medical checkup you just said, which we collect all those 150 data points from you. Oh, right. That's the kind of data points. Oh, okay. The full kind of medical checkup. That's I mean the main, let's say, um medical tourism or longevity tourism or whatever you want to call it, is mainly then for those kind of checkups. Because as I said, with the treatment parts, yeah, they might come in, especially when they have already in their home country started certain sessions. They don't want to interrupt that, then they ask if they can continue on while they're stay here, or if they come in and, for example, try the contrast therapy or the red light just for just for fun, basically. Right. So they could come in for those treatments. Yeah, they could come in. That's not a problem.

SPEAKER_01

Do you ever do ketamine? Do you offer ketamine? Do we offer it in the clinic? Yeah, the injections of the ketamine. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

What about um do you don't we don't do any IV injections kind of so no exosomes, no peptides?

SPEAKER_01

No peptides.

SPEAKER_00

Interesting. Peptides, it's um it's a very contradicting kind of thing at the moment. And um, for us, there's not enough research done on peptides at the moment. I mean, the most peptides everybody knows, of course, GLP1. Like, I mean, that is something where we might have a borderline and say, okay, depending, but all the other peptides we are not touching at the moment. Is GLP1 a peptide? It is a peptide, yes. Great. But as I said again, like that's what I mean, that's why I said at the beginning, you know, like you really have to see um in the field of longevity. I mean, there's constantly something new happening, something new science, uh scientific coming out, but uh the part of the research is uh limited so far, or it's also like even those longevity doctors, I mean, you can't study longevity as such in medical school yet. Like, you know, there's a lot of things you have to train yourself in doing so, and it's often also learned by doing. But and also coming back, I think that's why people love Switzerland. Switzerland is very, and it has always been very medical, scientific, research driven. So we don't do things unless we know it works. And what we do, we do right. And I think that's what people really appreciate about Switzerland. And it's not a try and arrow kind of thing, like because it everything is so strictly regulated as well. Not just that we say we would do it, and first of all, you can't even get it here when we talk about peptides, for example. Second of all, they're not regulated here yet. So we have like a governmental place, it's called Swiss Medic. And if they are gonna tell us yes or no, we're gonna go with that standard. With what they say. Yeah. And I think that's what people but also appreciate. Of course, some people say, okay, but in the US, I mean, that's now we do this and this. It's differently regulated and it's completely okay. And we are not saying to people you shouldn't maybe be doing it. In some cases, it maybe makes sense, if you know what I mean. But from us, you can't get it. Is um is Swiss Medic a private company?

SPEAKER_01

No, it's a governmental institution.

SPEAKER_00

Um But I'm just saying it's it's it's as I said, and I think that's what also people do at the end appreciate. I mean, we have often people coming in and saying, yeah, but what about uh stem cells and what about uh peptides and what about this and this? And then we we really have to say, no, we are not doing it. Either you like it or not, but there's not enough scientific um evidence out there. There hasn't been any clinical trial out there, especially for humans and mice and all the other things, they're different to humans. We are not offering that at the moment. Yes, as again, in some ways or in some patients, it might be beneficial. Okay. Then we might say, okay, listen, that is maybe something to consider, but you're not getting it from us. And I think that's what people but they do appreciate that, you know what I mean? Not that you just jump on every hype and do it. Right. So it's still that kind of traditional but still innovative. Yeah, data driven. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

What um you were saying something about um um it was um I can't remember what it was now. See, I I told you that's where we are, right? This is the problem. That it's the brain fog you're having. Oh yeah. Well, it's I I think I think it's menopause. I do. I do. I think so. I do, I think it's menopause. It's just like this is what happened, uh we're having a conversation, and I, you know, I'm not stupid, you know, and then all of a sudden I don't know what I was talking to you about. I know. Oh my gosh. Well, let's see. Yeah, let's just talk about something else and maybe. What about uh other treatments? Yeah. I think it was something about other treatments. Have we missed anything at Iun? Because oh, and then I want to talk about, I'm gonna tell you now because I'm gonna forget. Okay. Then let's talk more. I want to know what your perfect day in Zurich is. So you choose where do you want to go next? All right, okay.

SPEAKER_00

Um shall we start with the treatments? Yeah. I mean, what do you mean? We had okay, we had the cryotherapy, I think we had the red light, we had the oxygen therapies. IHHT. Yeah, and the high HPT. Oh, contrast therapy, that's something we we offer as well. I mean, it's basically the um the change between hot and cold. So we have like a finished sauna, and then we had cold plungers. Oh, yes, yes. You know, I mean it's anyway, uh I don't know, at least here it's a it's a huge trend to the thing. No, it's a trend. Yeah. Jump into the turse and have I mean it's very good for your immune system, also for recovery and things like that, of course, also for your mental health. And and what loads of people don't know, and I mean a Yun is very much specializing in women's health because women have been neglected from research for years. I mean, I think first women trial was done in what, 1993 or something? I mean, completely ridiculous. And um, also our scientific director, I mean, she's female and she's very much into that um biology of female because it's so complex. And she said to me when she did um medical school, she said she had three minutes of kind of menopause. What? In her home medical kind of school. And she said that is just a topic which affects not just the woman itself but the whole society. Absolutely, you know. I mean, there are women coming into that, and there are women like which has been in very C-level position, they're thinking, I can't do that anymore. I'm I'm not good enough. So they're gonna step back from their career, you know, and leaving the man open the floor again just because of a very natural thing which is happening, and you can actually do something. Yeah, and that's sorry, but that's something which really is also um oh kind of in my heart because it is like that, because often you come to the step where you think, oh my god, can can I can I do that still? I mean, we're we're as you said, I can't remember, and you think like that is you, and you know you're maybe not good enough. And it's not, it's just your body goes through a transformation, and you need you can help your body to adjust a bit better. Anyway, sorry, I kind of lost track because it's such a very emotional topic. And it's very, yeah, it's very big. But what we're saying, for example, condress therapy, it's also good for enthromatriosis, which is very hard to um diagnose and very hard to treat. But there's more and more research coming out now that those kind of um um uh heat cold exposure can help, for example, with symptom relief uh uh relief for entrometriosis and things like that. But anyway, so that's what we offer um as well. And um and that's also maybe going into I mean, of course, the longer you do um the better effect it has, but that also goes maybe. To the short-term wellbeing. I mean, you know, you do the the hot and cold and you feel great afterwards. You feel either relaxed or rejuvenated, whatever you want to feel like. And also if you combine it with breath work, maybe. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I did the hot and cold. Where did I do it? Well, we don't know. So somewhere. Um oh in London, I did. Um again, because of the rain-ons, I I won't immerse.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But I just did the sauna with the red light, and then I just went to the cold and I just splashed myself with it. Got got as cool as I can be, you know. And honestly, afterwards I felt great. Yeah, you feel good. You feel great. Yeah, you feel awakened and refreshed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01

It's amazing. Yeah. So we have oh, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, sorry. I I can talk forever, but you know, even those kind of things, as I said, even some the treatments have a long-term effect for your body, but they also, as I said, has kind of a short, you know, kind of now I feel great. Now I want to do that because I want to feel greater, because I want to refresh, I want to uh awaken for my next meeting, for example.

SPEAKER_01

I was just about to say that. If you're an executive or just you you have a job and you have a big presentation to give, it just hit me. That would be a perfect thing to do before. Yeah. You're just and you're up. You're up and you're open and you're you're clear. Clear.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's so smart.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Now that's a good article. Just that in itself. Yeah, it is. It is It's a good pitch. The executives who are doing, you know, contrast therapy before a big meeting.

SPEAKER_00

And we also what we do like, you know, um, as I said before, I mean, there's maybe something which is kind of inside you, um, which which you can't see yet, okay, which is a risk maybe for the for the future, whenever it's visible, and hopefully we detect it early enough. But also like some people, you know, like nowadays with chronical sleeping disorder, depression, like everyone. Exactly. But you know, that is also something to address now. So longevity is not just what might happen when I'm 60.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

You know, it's also something, hey, I am not okay at the moment, or I can't um sleep well, or I can't deal with the stress at the moment. Help me. Yeah, you know, and there are ways we can help those kind of people that regulate the nerve system. For example, the IHHT. You can really deprogram your nerve system that you can deal with stress better, you can calm down. It's a lot done with breathing as well, like you know. I mean, all those kind of things, you know, you have to consider as well, which is very good then again for for everyone, but also for, of course, high executive kind of people.

SPEAKER_01

I think there's uh I think that there is a curve in education, uh, educating people. Uh so there's the trend, which is sort of like at the surface, right? This is great. We're gonna be healthy, you know. But then there's that education part that's sort of the middle meat of what you're really talking about. And that is you do it in it, you do it preventatively, and you do it postoperatively, but you do it because you're preventing things down the road or helping to control them or lessen their effects, whatever it is that we're gonna get. I mean, we do get older, we get things, you know. So I I I don't think that's as easy as it it may sound when we talk about it, because I think, well, Americans, for example, certainly the Swiss understand something more. But Americans, for example, we we weren't raised or trained to think about aging in this way. And everyone's covering it, everyone's writing about it. But how do you really educate people into understanding, no, you're gonna die? It is a fact. It's a fact, and you're gonna get older, God willing, you know, you're gonna get older and things are gonna happen. And this is part of your not just preventative maintenance, but just living your best life every day and and feeling your best every day as you take the aging journey. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. And exactly that that that kind of way of feeling good now, you know, feeling good now and keep that good feeling for as long as you can.

SPEAKER_01

And the clarity of mind and the ability to be as productive and thrive in your career. Yeah, you know. Um okay, the candy part of caviar and candy. Now, give me challenge. Give me a perfect day in Zurich, and then I need to know which chocolates I need to pack in my suitcase in large quantities and bring home. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Let me think about it. Um I think again everybody's different, but what I would say, like, you know, what about um getting up, um, having a walk along the lake, you know, maybe sitting in one of the cafes along the lake. Um, jumping into the water or go to one of the bodies. I mean, you already have the the sheets there, um, especially in the summertime, um, to refresh. Um, if you want, like there's a lot of portable saunas out there overlooking the lake. They're really nice. Maybe jump in one of those. Um you can jump a sauna? Yeah, there's a portable saunas out there. What do you mean? They're like they're like a big barrel, basically. And um they yeah, they they have different stations um depending on where they are, but they're really they're really funny. Like I actually um had a meeting with the founder the other day, and they're basically, as I said, like it looks like it looks like either like a wagon or a big barrel, and there's a sauna in it, and then they have a tiny little area before, and you can rent that, you know. You can say I want it for two hours, and it's often along the lake, and you can then you know do your sauna, and then there's like a bench outside or jump into the lake. I mean, that's really lovely, like you know. So, as I said, you can rent that. Um, maybe do this, and then what about you go, for example? Oh my god. I actually do a lot of advertisement for them now. Um, for example, Hiltl. Have you heard of Hiltl? That's the world's oldest vegetarian restaurant. It's may well now it's more vegan, but um I think that's the the oldest in the whole world, like yeah.

unknown

I hope that's the same.

SPEAKER_00

They were before their time. Yeah, that's Hiltl. That's actually, it's close to Ayun, actually, by the way. Um, to have some dinner there. And then I'd say, um, why don't you um I don't want to constantly call Ayun, but there's also lots of breath work kind of facilities out there, um which you can do as I said, just uh the cold plunge and heat together with uh breath work, or you can uh come to ayun, of course, um to do some uh longevity kind of treatments. Um did I and then I think I missed something.

SPEAKER_01

We walked along a lake, we stopped in a cafe. There was something before the portable sauna jumping into the lake as such, or jump in the lake, that's right. Okay, I forgot to jump in.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

I'm with you.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so we jumped in the lake, then we did uh the sauna, you can combine it. I mean, I mean sometimes the R day. If you want to combine them with the sauna, the jumping into the lake, then you can maybe uh as I said go to Hilte for your lunch. Then you can um try out the different facilities we have, like as I said, for breathwork facilities, or you come to Iun for your treatments, and then you have to go to um which is also the other question, uh Confessory Sprungli. Sprungli. That is in Bahnhofstraße, and that is just I mean their pralins and uh Luxembourgly macarons, they're actually to die for. This is a pastry shop, right? That is kind of the chocolate pastry shop. That is where you have to go. Um, it's a very traditional one as well. I should be in one of your guides, definitely. I mean, um confessory springly. Um, I would have a lovely coffee there and maybe some macarons, that would be my thing anyway. And those Luxemburgly. Um, they also have handmade pralins. Um you like the pralins. I do like the pralins. And actually, they have do you know what's very um the bircher muesli? Have you heard of that? No. Oh, that is really nice. It's called Bircher Moesli. Bircher Mousli? Okay. I know it sounds a bit weird if you have the English German, isn't it? But it's it it it actually, it's oh my god, it's very nice. Like it's actually kind of done with um kind of grinded apple and yogurt and a bit of oats and then a bit of uh lemon juice. And I mean, I I don't know the exact recipe, um, but they I mean, I hope they still have it. I haven't been there for ages, but that is really lovely. Like, if you have that, that is really nice. That's maybe a trick most of the people they think about chocolate and those kind of things, but Bilchamusle is very nice here. Um, and then um yeah, and then I would have a walk through the old town, maybe in Zurich. And um there's also I think what is it called? I think it's called um Hannold or something. I think that's Zurich's oldest and traditional confessory as well. They also have handmade chocolate.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, hummel.

SPEAKER_00

Mm-hmm. And then gives no Teuscher, they are very well known for I think champagne truffles or something like that. So I think, and of course, I mean the biggest chain and uh all over Switzerland, obviously in the airport, is Lederach. Um, Lederach is uh where you have that kind of plate of chocolate and you can break off as much as you want from the different flavors. Um I think that's enough calories I gave you, I'm so happy.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, thank you. I'm so happy. Don't blame me for your sugar in time. It's always been there. It's always been there. That makes me so happy. Just the words chocolate and you know truffles. It just sounds so nice. Thank you so much. This has been absolutely nading. This has been delightful. Thank you. And join me next time, right here on the Caviar and Candy podcasts. I'm your host, Paula Conway, and follow me on Instagram, Paula Conway NYC.